CNDER THE FATIMTD CALIPHATE 51
eligible for the vizierate, his ill-will towards him was
heightened.1 His opportunity came when Kafur, Ya'qub's
powerful patron, died in 968, leaving him exposed to his
enemies. Ibn al-Furat promptly had all the secretaries and
heads of diwans,2 including Ya'qub b. Killis, arrested, and
imposed heavy fines upon them. According to Ibn Khallikan
he was subjected to extortions until he found means to buy his
freedom and nee from Egypt to Maghrib.3
With al-Mu'izz in 3Iag7irib
As it turned out, therefore, Ya£qub b. Killis's conversion to
Islam had quite another result from that expected. That he had
been an opportunist appears from the sources, which expressly
state that upon his arrival in Maghrib he again associated
himself with the Jews, who were in sympathy with al-Mu'izz.4
Once under Fatimid rule his religion made no difference ;
for the well-known tolerance of this dynasty towards the
ahl adh-Dhimnia made it possible for a Jew to attain
to the highest position in the state. Ya'qub b. Killis entered
the service of al-Mu'izz in 357/968 and began a new phase.5
1 Ibn KhaXlik&n, ii, 440 ; Jfagrfcf, ii, 5, adds that Ya'qub b. Killis
feared the vizier.
8 Ibn Shallikan, i, 137 ; cf. Yabya b. Sa'id, ed, Kratchkowsky, p. 811 ;
ed. Cheikho, p. 129.
3 According to 3faqnzit ii, 6, he realized the danger which menaced him
from Ibn al-Furat betimes, and fled the country while Kaffir was still alive.
But this can hardly be right. According to Ibn JZhalHl-a-n, ii, 440, Ya'qiib
b. Klllia borrowed money from his brother in order to flee to Maghrib.
This brother's name is given in Maqrizi : Itii'az, p. 144, Abu Ibrahim Sahl
b. TvfTh's. He was one of the nobles executed by al-^akina in 394/1004. This
fact would seem to imply that he had remained a Jew, as almost all those
executed belonged to the ahl adh-Dbimma. The sources also mention a
daughter of Ya'qub b. KilJis, who married a certain Yirukh, probably
Barukh, as given in Jabya. t,. Sa'ItL ed. Cheikho, p. 220. Cf. JlagrTzi,
ii, S.
* Ibn'As&kir apud Ibn Khallikan,ii, 443: _
Ibn Qataniai, p. 33 : ~j£\ -+ dJbjs, UL
5 All the sources agree in stating that Ta'qiib b, Killis fled in 357/968
to the court of the "Ubaydite ruler al-Mu'izz in Maghrib. According to
one view cited by Ibn Khallikan, I.e., he had encountered the General